First swine flu death in Santa Cruz County

SANTA CRUZ - Santa Cruz and Monterey counties have recorded their first deaths from swine flu, public health officers announced Thursday.

A 52-year-old Santa Cruz County woman died Tuesday at Dominican Hospital, but tests did not confirm H1N1 flu infection until noon Thursday, said Dr. Poki Stewart Namkung, the county's public health officer. Citing federal privacy guidelines, county officials declined to release the woman's identity or exact area of residence.

"We would like to convey our deepest sympathy to the family of this patient," Namkung said in a statement. "We know that H1N1 is present throughout our community, as it is throughout the nation. The vast majority of cases have mild or moderate illness and the patients recover. Tragically, in this case, recovery did not occur."

Monterey County Health Officer Dr. Hugh Stallworth said he only learned Wednesday that a man who until recently had resided in that county died last month while hospitalized elsewhere with complications from the virus. Stallworth was trying to find out if officials from the unnamed county where the patient died had conducted a "contact investigation" to try to locate friends and family in Monterey County who may have been exposed.

"We need to find out if somebody did drop the ball with telling us, or if they just didn't know where he lived," Stallworth said.

There have been 24 deaths statewide among more than 2,000 confirmed swine flu cases in California. Santa Cruz County has recorded 35 probable or confirmed cases since the H1N1 flu was labeled a pandemic illness in April.

There are no other current hospitalizations in Santa Cruz County linked to swine flu, Namkung said in an interview Thursday.

The woman who died Tuesday had asthma, which is one of several health conditions that can lower immunity to fight swine flu, but was otherwise in good health before getting the flu, Namkung said. She was hospitalized a week ago after coming to the emergency room with flu-like symptoms. Initial test results could not zero in on what type of flu she had, but expedited state tests conducted two days ago confirmed she had the pandemic flu.

"Dominican Hospital offers its thoughts and prayers to the family in this time of loss," the hospital's spokesman, Mike Lee, said in a statement. "Dominican Hospital recognizes the risks associated with treating infectious disease and takes proper precautions when caring for those patients in the hospital. We are committed to the safety of all patients, our caregivers and visitors."

Namkung said authorities are investigating how the woman came in contact with the virus, which is believed to have originated in Mexico.

During the first three weeks of the pandemic outbreak this spring, authorities said travel to Mexico or contact with someone who had been there recently was a common factor among those who became infected. But Namkung said that is no longer true, as the flu has spread throughout the world among people who have no travel history involving Mexico.

Namkung said health officials are working to determine if any family members of the woman who died may also have contracted the illness. The Monterey County victim had an immune system that was already compromised by other serious health conditions, Stallworth said.

A vaccine for swine flu is in production and not expected to arrive in the county until this fall, Namkung said. She encourages citizens to take the vaccine in addition to the seasonal flu vaccine.

The county health office will control how the federally administered vaccine is distributed with the help of local clinics and private medical offices.

Namkung said people under the age of 18 will be given preference for receiving the vaccine because they are most vulnerable to becoming gravely ill from the disease.

She said it's unclear how widespread the illness could yet become.

"What you have to realize is that it is not flu season - we should not be seeing any flu at all," Namkung said. "But it hasn't peaked by any sense of the word. For us to have a death from flu in July is highly unusual. What is going to happen in fall? That's why were scared."

Namkung said there were an average of 40 flu-related deaths annually in the county from 2004-06, with the majority of the deaths occurring among people who are younger than a year old or older than 65.

Still, she said, "We have been lucky so far. It hasn't seemed to be mutating into more virulent strain. My hope for the future is that it will remain so."

For information about how to guard against swine flu, visit http://www.santacruzhealth.org/alerts/index.htm#Swine.